


Ain't About How Fast I Get There (It’s the Climb)

by ForestAngel



Series: The Wishbone Collection [1]
Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Self-Insert, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 16:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestAngel/pseuds/ForestAngel
Summary: Twenty Truths about Althea of Stone Mountain OR A modern girl's guide to surviving Tortall as a noble lady from a Conservative fief.





	Ain't About How Fast I Get There (It’s the Climb)

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer**  
>  Tortall and its inhabitants as introduced in the Protector of the Small and related series are the intellectual property of Tamora Pierce and her affiliates. No copyright infringement intended, and no profit is being made from producing this humble tribute. I’m just the silly introvert that stumbled my way into the sandbox and decided to play a while.

> **\-- ONE --**  
>  **Althea of Stone Mountain was a child of a love match.**

  
Althea of Stone Mountain was born in H.E. 438 to Burchard of Stone Mountain and his first wife, née Alethea of Aili. Alethea died from complications after the birth, an unusual but still not unknown occurrence.

Burchard and Alethea were betrothed as children, but conveniently, they fell in love. When she died after giving birth to a daughter, a grieving Burchard was pressured by his ailing father to marry again quickly to secure a son.

Six months after Althea’s birth, Burchard married Elissanne of Rosemark, whose mother had been a second cousin to old Humphrington of Stone Mountain. Joren of Stone Mountain was born a year after their marriage, but Humphrington of Stone Mountain passed away before meeting his grandson.

 

 

 

> **\-- TWO --**
> 
> **For Althea’s father, it was love at first sight.**

  
Burchard had, at first, blamed Althea for her mother’s death, and refused to see her. Althea was raised almost entirely by her nurse for the first five years of her life. It was not until Althea’s fifth birthday that Burchard set eyes on his firstborn daughter, and promptly fell in love with the dainty child.

She looked almost nothing like his first wife – in fact, she had inherited almost all her features from the Stone Mountain side; she looked like her paternal grandmother in miniature, with the Stone Mountain colouring of bleach-blond hair and ice-blue eyes. The shape of those eyes, however, were from her mother. A startled Althea spent the whole day either being carried around Stone Moutain Keep, or blinking confusedly from her father’s lap while he tended to business.

 

 

> **  
> \-- THREE --  
>  Having previously been a woman living in a modern egalitarian society during the 21st century, it took Althea longer to get over her pre-conceptions about medieval Conservative values to realize that her new father genuinely loved and valued her (she got lucky).**

  
In her defence, the portrayal of the Lord and heir of Stone Mountain from the books didn’t exactly paint a flattering or reassuring picture for her. She didn’t know much more about the family besides the fact that they were old, rich, influencial, misogynistic and conservative. Honestly? She thought that was why Lord Burchard ignored his daughter’s existence. She didn’t realize it was because he was mourning his first wife, who had apparently been the love of his life. It wasn’t until she’d overheard those gossiping chambermaids that Althea decided to give her new father a chance.

Despite Elissanne’s protests of being un-ladylike, Althea could thereafter often be found in Burchard’s study, working quietly on her own studies while he tended to business. Observing her father’s cold expression softening whenever she slunk into his office, Althea thought it was worth it.

 

 

 

> **\-- FOUR --  
>  Althea’s stepmother was not a fairy-tale cliché.**

  
Alethea of Aili and Elissanne of Rosemark were contemporaries at the same convent in the City of the Gods. They had not been friends, but had a friendly respect for each other.

Thus, Elissanne made sure Althea had the best possible care growing up, even during the first years when Burchard had ignored her. Althea knew Elissanne was not her birth mother, but liked and respected her anyway (it wasn’t like she was in need of a mother, anyway). They had a relationship closer than, but not unlike that of her mother’s and Elissanne’s, by virtue of being step-daughter and step-mother.

It helped that Elissanne’s mother was from Stone Mountain, and Elissanne was raised with allegiance to both sides of her family.  
Elissanne had also inherited the Stone Mountain features – pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyes – though hers was more golden blonde than the bleach-blonde of Burchard, Althea and Joren. In fact, most new acquaintances thought Elissanne was Althea’s mother in truth.

 

 

 

> **  
> \-- FIVE --  
>  Of the things Althea inherited from her first life, it was her near encyclopedic memories of the novels she loved that ended up motivating her the most in this one.**

  
Althea, upon meeting baby Joren, promptly pronounced him ‘pretty’ and ‘mine’. As her step-mother and Joren’s new nursemaid laughed, Althea vowed to herself that Joren would not die in the Chamber of the Ordeal – not this time.

 

 

 

> **\-- SIX --  
>  It was this motivation that led her to insist on self-defence lessons, and stick with it; Althea hated physical exercise.**

  
When Joren first started arms training with the Master of Arms at Stone Mountain at the age of six, Althea asked to be included. Elissanne, who identified mostly with the (dying) Cult of the Gentle Mother, frowned in disapproval when she discovered it; but since she was away assisting her sister through the last stages of her pregnancy at the time, it was a fait accompli by the time she got back to the Keep. Burchard was inclined to be more permissive with his little princess, perhaps to make up for his absence during the first years of her life.

It helped that Althea had a 'sensible' head on her shoulders, and only asked to learn enough so she can defend herself. This was Stone Mountain, after all, with dangers from not only the wild animals. They were pretty much protected from Scanran raiders, but there’s poachers, bandits and general unrest from the convicts working in the mines that would not hesitate to use the lord’s daughter as a bargaining chip. Alethea had learnt, for much the same reasons. It wasn’t like she gotten strange ideas from that upstart foreigner queen or that disgraceful Trebond girl and had asked to become a knight.

Most of the first three years of training consisted of strengthening and cardio exercises. Althea hated it. But, remembering what was coming – memories from another lifetime was bloody annoying sometimes – she doggedly pressed on. In time, she built up enough strength and stamina to learn that she had a talent with the bow. She also learned to be competent with daggers and staff, since her hand-to-hand combat was barely passable. Shooting on ponyback though…well, she’d have to work her way up to that.

 

 

 

> **\-- SEVEN --  
>  Beating someone to submission while in a dress was secretly a bit of a power-trip – even if Althea shouldn’t be feeling proud of being able to trounce a six-year-old.**

  
At first, she wore breeches and tunics to the training sessions. However, upon realizing that she would most probably be called to defend herself in a dress, she stopped stealing Joren’s clothes, to the great relief of her stepmother.

Joren had laughed the first time she wore a dress (an old one that needed to be remade, to be sure) to practice, but he didn’t laugh again after the first time she beat him in a spar while in a dress (she hardly ever won after that – Joren started taking her seriously, which Althea could only consider as a good thing).

The long-suffering Master of Arms simply threw up his hands, and worked with Althea to modify several self-defence moves that she could use successfully while in a dress. Burchard, who had stopped by to watch their training, heartily approved of ways to deter men from taking advantage of his little Snowflake – impropriety notwithstanding.

 

 

 

> **\-- EIGHT --  
>  To paraphrase a popular children’s series from her first life: “You’re a Gifed, Althea”.**

  
Althea’s uncle, Harailt of Aili, tested Althea and Joren for the Gift when they were six and five respectively. Since neither Elissanne nor Burchard had a Gift, it was not surprising that Joren did not have a Gift. Althea, however, had inherited her mother’s sunset red Gift.  
It was kind of funny not to have noticed that she had a new energy source until her Uncle Harailt (the Dean of the Royal University was her uncle, how unreal was that?) tested her, but it wasn’t like she’d paid a lot of attention to her body the first time around either. Sure, she tried as soon as she figured out which universe she had apparently been dropped into, but when nothing happened, she figure she wasn’t Gifted, and focussed on mastering the new language instead. Glowing sunset red was not something she expected.

Althea’s Gift was not particularly strong; it will grow in potency once she started training it, but she was informed she may not ever do more than being able to light candles. She resolved to push her Gift to the limit anyway. She had wanted to be a doctor in her last life, and she had been set on learning all the Healing she could in this new world even when she thought she was Giftless. Now that she did have the Gift, she was more than determined to hone the little she possessed so she can become a healer.

Though Elissanne did not particularly approve, she did not exactly discourage this ambition either. Uncle Harailt, being a renowned mage and scholar just named the Dean of the newly created Royal University of Tortall in Corus, naturally encouraged Althea’s studies.

 

 

 

> **\-- NINE --  
>  Althea had a more mundane gift for teaching that she’d never discovered in her first life.**

  
Joren complained whenever their tutor forced them to hit the books, but secretly, he loved studying with Althea. Most of Althea’s studies pertained to her Gift, since after her bumpy start with reading and writing, she seemed to sail through basic mathematics and history.

It wasn’t that Joren wasn’t smart as well; he was more than intelligent enough, but their Ok tutor’s style bored him, and he didn’t have Althea’s comprehension speed and independent drive to learn. Sometimes, it seemed like Joren could never keep up – which made him secretly jealous; wasn’t he, the heir of Stone Mountain (his tutor was fond of admonishing), supposed to be the best at everything?

Althea however, never tried to make him feel dumb. She would glare at the tutor and excuse both Joren and herself in her most chillingly lady-like voice. Then, sweeping off with both Joren’s and her textbooks du jour, they would make their way back to the nursery. A quiet word to a maid on the way, and lemonade and biscuits would be waiting for them. Then, Althea would patiently walk through the day’s lessons with Joren, often combining the history, math and reading and writing lessons into one.

For example, Joren learned sums and multiplication pretending to be a great general in Old King Jasson’s army, making sure he had enough supplies for his men. He practiced his penmanship defending on paper what he would do as lord in the aftermath of an attack on a village. Althea would offer advice on what tasks could be delegated to his lady love – sorry, the lady of the manor, Althea giggled while Joren gagged – and others around him, generally reminding him of his ‘assets’ in people.

But usually, she would create her own list while he was doing his. They would argue and compare afterwards, and create one final plan. If their father was present, Althea and Joren would then present their final plan to Burchard, who would proudly critique their strategies. If both Burchard and Joren tended to be more dismissive than Althea of women and commoners in general, no protest was made by Althea. However, Althea hoped that her father and brother would adopt at least the importance of delegating someone to oversee the needs of commoners, if they could not bring themselves to see commoners as important.

 

 

 

> **\-- TEN --  
>  Althea’s bookworm tendencies followed her into her new life.**

  
Althea figured out how to form a self-sustaining mage-light for the sole purpose of reading under her covers after dark. Candles were too risky. She did not figure out how to implement control sequences for said mage-lights until she was at the convent. Before that, she kept the mage-light in a pouch she had made during her needlework sessions.

 

 

 

> **\-- ELEVEN --  
>  Althea had no time or patience for her paternal uncle’s misogyny; it only made her that much more furious that she had to counter the damage he did to Joren.**

  
Althea and her Uncle Jorgan, her father’s younger brother, did not get along. Jorgan did not approve of Althea’s scholarship and what he called her independent conceit, and thought Burchard spoiled her rotten by allowing her too much freedom, being a girl.

Althea could not stand his uninformed misogyny, but ignored him as much as she could. When she could not, she used the most chilling politeness she could manage, and excused herself at the first opportunity. This meant, unfortunately, that Joren spent a lot of time with their uncle unsupervised, times he came back from exhibiting cockier attitude than Althea could deal with.

She blamed Joren’s later misogyny on her uncle’s influence. She felt it fortunate that her uncle had little use for her other brothers, even after Joren left for page training. Their young ages might have played a part, but Althea also sensed that whatever interest her uncle had in Joren was more to do with currying favour and establishing influence over the heir to Stone Mountain.

 

 

 

> **\-- TWELVE --  
>  In contrast to her feud with her paternal uncle, Althea grew up close to her maternal relations.**

  
Just as Fief Cavall was known for the horses and dogs they bred. Fief Aili, among other things, was known for their mountain pony breeds. When Queen Thayet created the Queen’s Riders, the new horsemistress, Onua, sourced most of the Riders’ mounts from Fief Aili. With the Riders growth in numbers, Onua had expanded to other sources, but at least a third of the mounts still come from Aili.

Althea got her first riding lesson at the age of six, sharing her cousin’s lessons at Fief Aili. Her maternal grandparents, Lord Gerard and Lady Emmeline of Aili, presented her with her own pony, a half-grown dapple-grey filly named Charbon. The heir to the fief, Althea’s Uncle Ignis, personally conducted his son’s and niece’s first lessons.

Once Althea and her cousin Adrian got good enough to ride on their own, it was not unusual for them to ride back and forth to visit each other’s fiefs (with a man-at-arms or two as escort). Though their respective fiefs covered a lot of mountain territory, the keeps were located only thirty minutes away from each other by pony. Later, they were often joined by Joren and Adrian’s two sisters, Imana and Irena, before Adrian and Joren left for page training.

 

 

 

> **\-- THIRTEEN --  
>  Outside of her brother and cousins, Althea’s first friend was Lady Maura of Dunlath.**

  
Although Fief Dunlath was a neighbouring fief, Althea did not get to meet Lady Maura of Dunlath until the whole treason business was over. Adrian and Joren had, by then, started page training. Imana and Irena were scared of wolves, and terrified of Maura’s ogre companion (though they sighed over her knight-guardian), and Maura rarely travelled without them.

Althea bravely swallowed her misgivings to befriend the young Lady of Dunlath, who was the same age as Joren. Althea got the feeling Maura might be a little lonely for female companionship, surrounded as she was only by males of various species.

Maura was not of as scholarly a bent as Althea and her cousins, but they cheerfully talked strategy on the defence and management of a fief and its people during their bi-weekly teas (her knight-guardian usually disappeared during these sessions; Maura and Althea liked to tease him by imitating airheaded court-lady conversations on girl things until he ran away. The ogre, Iajoku, did sometimes join them though).

Before Althea left for the City of the Gods, she was privileged to hear the whole harrowing tale of how Maura, the Wildmage Daine and Master Numair had routed Maura’s treasonous half-sister and brother-in-law. She (gladly) vowed to take it to her grave; it was not a story she had the desire to repeat to anyone – ever.

 

 

> **\-- FOURTEEN --  
>  Althea was incredibly grateful she’d actually gone through with that high school Introductory Accounting course (a.k.a. Bookkeeping 101).**

  
As the first-born, and only daughter of a rich fief with a super-indulgent father, Althea had a ridiculously high personal allowance. She was first issued an allowance of 5 gold nobles a quarter by a guilt-ridden Burchard when she was five, equal to that of Joren’s, and it increased by 1 gold noble each birthday. Since she had virtually no expenses for while she was living at home (her clothing and any needs were either met with the household budget or the fund Elissanne was given for the children) in Stone Mountain, the first time she’d even dipped into those funds for personal spending (benevolence funds did not count) was when she visited Corus at thirteen.

The first time Burchard issued her allowance, a week after her fifth birthday, Althea’s jaw dropped as Burchard casually forked over a fortune to a five year old (no one knew she was not mentally five, after all). Bug-eyed, she stared at the five gold coins in her hands, until she realized that she was both gaping unattractively, and that Burchard was looking for a response. Composing herself quickly, she dropped into her best curtsey and gravely thanked her father, promising to be careful with it. She then asked him to hold onto the funds for her until she had a secure place to put it. Burchard seemed pleased with the response, freeing Althea to return to what had become ‘her’ corner of Burchard’s study.

Still reeling from the whole situation, Althea nevertheless sat down to plot; perhaps once she’s got a plan on how to use these funds, she would be able to wrap her head around it more clearly. She wasn’t exactly sure of the value of a gold noble, though she knew it was the highest denomination. One thing was for sure: she definitely needed to be more accountable (pun intended) with documenting her expenses than in her last lifetime.

 

 

 

> **\-- FIFTEEN --  
>  New life or no, Althea was all about the food; it was fortunate her family was so rich in this medieval setting in which she’d found herself.**

  
Althea knew that a mountain fief was limited in the types of agriculture they could reasonably engage in, due to the climate and the scarcity of arable land. What the fief ended up growing was barely able to sustain the Stone Mountain Keep and the three other settlements. The predominant agriculture on hand was sheep and goat farming, however.

This gave Stone Mountain a firm hold in the textiles industry – the fief exported both processed and unprocessed wool, and most of the women in the settlements were involved in the industry in some way – so the fief was prosperous even without mining, and most of the common people rarely went hungry, despite the limitations on crops and the traditionally benevolent indifference from the lords of Stone Mountain.

She learned to like cheese, goat and sheep milk – though she never drank the latter two without heating first, and never allowed the nursemaids to serve them to her brothers cold. She also grew up eating a lot of mutton stew. This she was ok with; the cook at Stone Mountain made a mean stew. Beef was less frequently on the menu (though cow’s milk was readily available), though a decent size herd was also kept on the home farm. There were always fresh eggs at the table. She didn't even mind drinking twilsey (after choking down questionable concoctions masquerading as Chinese medicine? Please.)

(She could kill for some sushi, though.)

 

 

 

> **\-- SIXTEEN --  
>  Keladry of Mindelan was Althea’s favourite Tortallan heroine back in her first life, though Kel was her opposite in many ways; it seems that one point of similarity they had was a soft spot for the underdog.**

  
Althea was really more of a cat person, but with all the sheep on hand in the fief, sheepdogs were more than a regular presence. It was just her fortune (misfortune?) that she and Joren happened to wander past a new litter of pups on their way back from a training session. The mother sheepdog had four pups eagerly nursing, but there was a little pup laying exhausted a few inches away from his mother and littermates.

The runt of the litter had little chance of making it, but Althea stubbornly delivered the pup to its mother anyway. By then, the other pups have gotten their fill. The mother gave Althea a long-suffering look, but did consent to nurse the little pup.

This dictated Althea’s schedule for the next two months. She checked on the litter at least four times a day, usually with Joren. Her little brother had been enchanted with the puppies, but had originally written off the runt as weak. Althea insisted on giving the pup a chance, though, and Joren eventually became as invested as she.

The kennel workers knew that their lord’s son and daughter were rooting for the little runt, and didn’t want the little master’s and lady’s hearts to break if the worse happened. Though the kennel master initially warned them not to get their hopes up, he did assign one of the young workers to look after the struggling pup. Eventually, the puppy got stronger, to the relief of all.

It wouldn’t be suited to work in the fields, but it had a gentle enough nature for Althea and Joren as a pet, so they were allowed to keep him. The pup had started to grow a long coat in preparation for the winter, and the children named him Floppy, for the way his hair kept flopping over his eyes.

The servants took care of the food and such for the most part, but Althea and Joren took part in grooming, training and exercising him. Floppy made it easy by being naturally well-mannered; he rarely rolling around in muck, and warned Althea, Joren or one of the servants well enough ahead of time to let him out into one of the inner courtyards of the Keep to relieve himself.

Burchard didn’t think a working dog sophisticated enough a pet for his son and daughter, but Elissanne rather liked the little puppy, who was enthusiastic but not overly energetic. It helped that as the puppy grew (and grew big!), Floppy started displaying his breed’s natural tendencies, and aided their governess in herding Althea and Joren. He also seemed to work in cahoots with their Master-at-Arms, herding them on their morning runs. He got along great with the ponies, and would often run alongside on rides.

He wasn’t strong enough the first winter, but by the second winter, Floppy was able to pull an attached sleigh with one of the children on board. When first Joren and then Althea had to leave for school, they were heartbroken to have to leave Floppy behind; Floppy was equally reluctant, but dutifully stayed to help their governess with their younger brothers.

 

 

 

> **\-- SEVENTEEN --  
>  Althea fought for her education and her chosen career, privileges she took for granted in her first life.**

  
Althea successfully put off attending the convent at the City of the Gods until the age of thirteen. This was part of a deal she made with Burchard and Elissanne; Althea wanted to get her Mastery in Healing, but knew she was expected to go to the convent to hone her lady-like accomplishments. Since she was so far ahead in her academic studies, Althea was able to argue for time to prepare for her university entrance exams before she headed to the convent at the City of the Gods.

After she had mastered her lessons at the convent to the Daughters satisfaction, she would be permitted to take the qualifying exams for the new Royal University of Tortall. Whatever the pace of her studies, she would be presented at the age of seventeen (though Burchard secretly wouldn’t mind delaying until his Snowflake’s 18th birthday).

With the Royal University conveniently located in Corus, she would be able to concurrently continue her healer studies while attending the necessary social events in the Palace for a lady that is out. Since Stone Mountain was an old and prosperous fief, Althea (successfully convinced Burchard and Elissanne that she) could afford to be choosy about her marriage. The very conservative Burchard would have kicked up a fuss if it was any other girl; but because it was Althea, the more Burchard thought about it, the more he liked the delay. He wasn’t ready to give his little Snowflake away.

The delay did not mean her education in the lady’s arts slacked, however; under the formidable eye of Lady Elissanne and the governess she hired, Althea had diligently practiced her needlework, etiquette, cooking and household management.

She and her younger Aili cousins took turns hosting each other for formal teas. They were meant to practice their small talk skills, but it often devolved into in-depth discussions on the latest scientific and magical breakthroughs at the Royal University, and their potential applications; Uncle Harailt was not the only scholar in the family. Their mothers just threw their hands up and let them have at it.

 

 

> **\-- EIGHTEEN --  
>  She utilized those acceptably lady-like skills she was forced to acquire to her best advantage.**

  
Althea spent a lot of her time in the still room, learning how to make essential oils, soaps, lotions and medicines. Routine procedures became almost meditative for her; she was able to plan a lot of her experiments this way.

When she finally left for the convent, Althea made sure to put herself on the regular stillroom roster, though this was seen as an unpopular task among many of the ladies (it was sometimes used as punishment by the Daughters there). Althea shrugged off the whispers from her peers; she regarded it as an extension of her healing studies. Once she’d proven to the Daughters that she knew what she was doing, she was given permission once a week to carry out experiments, as long as she kept up with her other classes.

Besides, the days when she helped the Daughters with essential oil distillations or canning, she sometimes got to keep a sample for personal use. It made her a very popular hostess to the other girls, to her amusement; invitations to her room for tea was always in demand.

By the time she wrote her entrance exams for the Royal University, she was in charge of stocking the convent infirmary.

 

 

> **\-- NINETEEN --  
>  Althea was one of the only ladies from a deeply Conservative fief invited to join the Queen’s Ladies for reasons other than politics (though it was of course an important factor her consideration).**

  
It was Baroness Ilane of Mindelan’s mention of Althea’s unusual origami ability (hey, it was about the only other form of visual arts she was good at that was not digital…Althea totally missed computers) that originally brought her to Queen Thayet’s attention. It was in large part due to what Her Majesty and Princess Shinkokami (not to mention Baroness Ilane) saw as Althea’s open-mindedness towards Yamani culture that a lady from the very conservative fief of Stone Mountain was even considered for an invite to join the Royal Ladies. The fact the Althea was a full-fledged healer was icing on the cake.

Burchard of Stone Mountain ranted at length (in private) about foreign queens & princesses and barbarian ideas, but in the end, even he and Elissanne could not deny the political prestige of the position.

To Her Majesty’s surprise, Althea was actually one of the more advanced members of the Royal Ladies in arms training, having already mastered both mounted and un-mounted archery with a recurve. She only needed training time to keep her skills up, and to learn to compensate for different styles of arrows. This allowed Althea time to continue advanced healing studies under Duke Baird around her other duties.

 

 

> **  
> \-- TWENTY --  
>  Forwarned is forearmed, and the butterfly effect in this case worked in Althea’s favour.**

  
A chance visit with Joren while he and his knight-master was in Corus allowed Althea to head off the original plot to kidnap Keladry of Mindelan’s maid in order to make the girl page miss her big examinations.

Although Joren was at the height of his teenage-male-arrogance entitlement phase, Althea managed to stop his plans with a combination of older-sister scolding, appeal to his (limited) conscience and common sense about the immense risk of the plan. By resurrecting the authority of their bygone tutoring days, she managed to force Joren to think seriously about his knighthood and eventual responsibilities as heir, and then lord, of Stone Mountain.

Lalasa was still kidnapped, unfortunately, because Joren had run off his mouth to his pals about the idea before Althea stopped him – but this time, Joren had no further part in the kidnapping. After Joren backed out, Vinson of Genlith, who was still holding a grudge from his failed assault of Lalasa, decided to actually execute the plan. Vinson did implicate Joren in his testimony, so Joren did have to attend the trial, but to his knight-master’s and Althea’s relief and Keladry’s surprise, Joren was able to truthfully disavow any participation beyond idle speculation.

Joren was still responsible for inciting conservative knights to joust against Squire Keladry during the Grand Progress. His motivation was a mixture of conservative belief that girls should not be knights, and a grudge that he was unable to bully Keladry out of training. These attempts became more and more half-hearted as time went on, having been subconsciously influenced by Althea’s talking to regarding chivalry, along with risking his chance at knighthood and Stone Mountain’s reputation. It was more habit than anything by the time Joren’s Ordeal came around.

Ultimately, Althea’s well-timed intervention was the wake-up call that allowed Joren to survive his Ordeal. It wasn’t an instantaneous transformation; but the fallout from Lalasa’s kidnapping jolted Joren enough to actually consider his knight-master’s teachings and examples of chivalry. This gradual realization gave Joren just enough flexibility to pass (though it was a very close thing indeed).

**Author's Note:**

>  **Author's Ramblings**  
>  This was essentially a bunch of headcanons that came about as I wondered about Tortallan noble girls that did not fit the mold of a 'typical' medieval noble lady - with expectations of attending a convent, learning lady-like skills and marrying well, etc. - but did not have the polarizing desire to try for knighthood, involve themselves in espionage full-time or bear arms in general. It evolved further into the question of whether a 'modern' 21st century girl can survive in an even more 'hostile' home environment: a noble lady from a Conservative fief (lack of modern conveniences aside). 
> 
> The fief of Stone Mountain was eventually chosen as a starting point because it was rich, socially Conservative and Joren as an antagonist had great influence on Kel's storyline. The 'redemption' potential a la Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' also appealed to me. The Fief of Genlith was also considered, but I didn't feel skilful enough to tackle the harder truths that would have surfaced dealing with Vinson's character (RL issues are sobering enough without having to transport it all to a medieval setting).
> 
> The title is from Miley Cyrus’s ‘The Climb’.  
> The ‘Twenty Truths’ format was a writing experiment as a way to combat Writer’s Block from my other pieces. I think it turned out pretty well here, since I didn’t really have the inspiration to explore Althea’s character in linear narrative. 
> 
> Anyway, if anyone’s interested there is more where this came from (mostly more details about Althea's convent years, healing studies, and a bit about Althea's 'Red Cross' initiatives in the War years). Otherwise, this works as a standalone piece. As always, constructive feedback is welcome!


End file.
